Jennifer you wrote,
"The problem is that most moms are not willing, if they are even able, to
follow their instincts, and so they follow the 'rule' even when we only
intend it to be a guideline."

Your comment made me pause and reflect.  I have often encouraged moms to
follow their instincts.  But do we live in a society where mothering
instincts can easily be followed?

We are a society built against nature, trying our damnest to control it.  We
live in artificial enivronments, where the warmth or coolness is controlled
by us.  The light or darkness is artificial and controlled by us.  We bath in
water that is treated and controlled by us.

We eat food that is grown and made by someone else.  We are not connected to
nature or to our instincts.  We are born into a world that has spent enormous
amount of time and money to control our environment for our comfort.  That we
have lost something in the process seems very evident to me.

Who of us follows nature's cycles?  How many of us go to bed when the sun
goes down?  What is it about spending time outdoors that gives us such good
sleep?  Or how many of us has really seen a starry sky (living within a city
means that you really haven't seen the heavens at night)?

We have controlled alot of our connections to the natural world.  Most
mothers give birth under alot of man-made control.  What is induction but
control of labor, of nature's decision to birth a baby?  Then labor is
controlled by drugs--drugs to lessen pain or to intensify the labor.  If
birth doesn't happen in the time we believe is sufficient, we go in and get
the baby out.  At birth, most often, it is not the mother who touches her
baby first.  It is someone else.  If the mother receives the baby to
breastfeed, someone else is there to assist her and make sure she gets it
right.  It looks to me like mothers only see control of nature and not anyone
following instincts.

Should we be surprised that women cannot follow her instincts?  I am amazed
that anyone has any instincts left to follow.  Valerie W. McClain, IBCLC

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